The gym was still warm with echoes.
Not from noise—
But from memory.
The court stood empty now.
Paint still slick from battle.
The last shoe squeak long faded.
The overhead lights buzzed softly, casting shadows like ghosts across the hardwood.
The scoreboard had gone dark.
The fans had filtered out.
But the air still hummed.
A silent pulse that hadn't stopped beating since the final whistle.
Like smoke after lightning.
Toyonaka Horizon 66 – Sapporo North Wolves 58
The numbers weren't a fluke.
They were truth.
The win wasn't just real—
It was undeniable.
But for Horizon?
It didn't feel like a celebration.
It felt like something else entirely.
Emergence.
"And that's the first game wrapped here on Court One!"
"The underdogs—Toyonaka Horizon, first-timers in Nationals—have just taken down the Sapporo North Wolves!"
"Scouts better move fast. This squad's young, but they're dangerous."
